Releasing device.



W. C. KOCH.

RELEASING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11, 191 4.

Patented May 1, 1917.

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WILLIAM C. KOCH, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

RELEASING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1, 191%.

Application filed March 11, 1914. Serial No. 823,986.

"'1 all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM C. KooH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Releasing Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to releasing or tripping devices for various purposes.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide temporary holding mechanism for the purpose of sustaining heavy weights, great forces, or the like, or temporarily holding back any piece of mechanism in a restrainedposition, the holding device when in set position serving to effectively secure the weight, force, or mechanism, but being of such a nature as to be easily tripped or released at the intended time. A device made in accordance with this invention is capable of being utilized in many different capacities for specific uses, and for the purposes of explanation of its construction and mode of operation it may be regarded as being applied to a means for supporting a heavy weight in an elevated position upon an arm, said weight being adapted to be employed for the purpose of operating furnace doors or draft controlling devices or many other various purposes.

In carrying out the invention I provide a construction wherein the load is supported or the pressure restrained by two abutting elements, one of which is movable relatively to the other, and wherein the plane of contact of the elements is at an angle to the line of pressure large enough to overcome the friction between the contacting surfaces, so

that the movable element will have a lateral movement with respect to the fixed element, when it is not under lateral restraint, thus clearing the fixed member and releasing the weight or other pressure. To hold these members in weight supporting or pressure resisting position I provide a keeper which can be moved into position to oppose the tendency to lateral movement.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings forming a part of this specification in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which Figure l is a vertical sectional view of the aforementioned illustration of my improvement shown in position to support a heavy weight, parts of the illustration being diagrammatic Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional detail on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view indicating one of the many modifications of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a diagram indicating the relative values and directions of the several forces.

The several parts of the device may be made of any suitable materials, and the relative sizes and proportions, as well as the general design of the mechanism, may be varied to a considerable extent without departing from the spirit of the invention hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I show at 10 an elevated arm connected at one end to a fixed support 11 and adapted to swing downwardly around the pivot 12 under certain conditions. Said arm may be regarded as a means for temporarily supporting in elevated position a weight 13 or as the key member of a mechanism being held in restraint, but which, when the arm 10 drops from its elevated position, will permit the weight to likewise gravitate so as to be free for the performance of any desired work thereby, or will release the restrained mechanism.

At 14 I show an upright support adapted to be secured in fixed position by any suitable means and of suflicient strength to support the arm 10 and the weight or restrained force carried thereby. 15 indicates a sleeve or keeper of any suitable construction and slidable. or otherwise movable within certain limits upon said support or stem let and adapted to project upwardly beyond the upper end of the stem, as shown in Fig. 1, in the set position. The sleeve, however, is adapted to be retracted so as to come within or below the end of the stem when in releasing position. If desired, the slidable movements of the sleeve maybe controlled or determined by a stud 16 fixed-tothe stem and projecting into the slot 17 of the sleeve.

The other main part of the releasing mech anism consists of a finger 18 shown as pivoted at its upper end to the outer end of the arm 10 by means of a pivot 19. The finger 18 is preferably of smaller diameter than the stem 14, but otherwise is adapted to be arranged in vertical alinement therewith. The lower end of the finger abuts directly against the upper end of the stem whereby the main load is borne directly upon said stem, and with the sleeve moved upwardly, as shown in full lines, the finger 18 is maintained in position upon the upper end of the stem so as to support the weight of the arm and its load. The adjacent ends of the finger and stem may be variously formed so as to insure a free releasing movement of the finger over or past the end of the stem immediately upon the retraction or downward movements of the sleeve. Said ends are both shown as being hemi-spherical in form which I have found to be both practical and satisfactory, and since the finger is of smaller diameter than the stem, it is practically an impossibility to so center the finger upon the end of the stem, as to cause it to lock or fail to drop when the sleeve is lowered. While the main weight or force is borne directly upon the stem through the finger, there is enough lateral pressure between the lower end of the finger and the sleeve to hold the sleeve in its locking position, or until such time it is desired to release it, or the sleeve or other device employed to resist the normal tendency of the members 14 and 18 to separate due to the angle of their contacting surface may be held in position by independent means.

Suitable means may be employed to move the sleeve out of supporting position with respect to the finger 18, and as an illustration of such means I show an electromagnet 20, the armature 21 of which is carried by a lever 22 pivoted upon a support 23 and having at its opposite end a loose connection with a stud 24 carried by the sleeve 15. Upon energizing the magnet the armature will act to swing the lever 22 on its pivot 25 and cause the sleeve to move downwardly to the dotted line position of Fig. 1, leaving the finger free to slip laterally from the end of the stem 14 with the obvious result that the arm and its weight will be dropped or the restrained mechanism released. While I show herein a vertically arranged device, it is obvious that the principles of the invention may be utilized with the parts otherwise arranged. F or instance, the stem and finger might be disposed in a horizontal plane and the arm 10 might be regarded as being subject to swinging movement in such plane under pull of any force which might be applied to it and herein represented as a gravitating weight, and the operation would be practically the same as that above set forth.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that I have devised a means to release a weight or pressure by utilizing the principle of the resolution of force into two component forces acting at right angles to each other. By making the surfaces between which the sliding movement tends to take place of the proper shape and relative sizes, one of the components of the force may be made very great as indicated at a as compared with the other, as indicated at Z). This larger component is opposed by the stationary support, while the smaller component is resisted by a removable sleeve 15 as shown in Fig. 1, or a sliding catch 15, as shown in Fig. 3, or any other suitable movable resistance. It is furthermore to be noted that the ratio between the releasing resistance and the supporting resistance in any of the modifications of the invention will vary according to the angle of contact between the abutting surfaces. The removal of the keeper will require little effort, as it merely opposes the smaller component of the original force and yet will serve effectually to release the pressure by weight.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a supporting stem, a sleeve slidable thereon and projectable beyond the end thereof, and a finger arranged essentially in alinement with said stem and being adapted to be retained thereon by said sleeve when the sleeve projects beyond the end of the stem.

2. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a fixed supporting stem arranged in a certain plane, a keeper slidable along said stem and adapted to project beyond the end thereof, a finger arranged in alinement with said stem and adapted to be maintained in position abutting the end of the stem by the aforesaid keeper, and a pres sure sustaining arm to which said finger is connected tending to move in the aforesaid plane, said movement being resisted by the cooperation between the keeper and the stem.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM C. KOCH.

Witnesses:

H. A. HUNT, CARL GRAY BROWNE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington. D. 0. 

